Tag: wisconsin

Possible PERSONAL link between Wisconsin GAB / IRS witch hunts targeting conservatives discovered.

Well, look at this…

Former IRS tax-exempt director Lois Lerner ran the agency’s policy on conservative groups. Kevin Kennedy runs the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) that helped prosecutors with their secret John Doe investigation of conservative groups after the 2011 and 2012 recall elections of Governor Scott Walker and state senators.

Emails we’ve seen show that between 2011 and 2013 the two were in contact on multiple occasions, sharing articles on topics including greater donor disclosure and Wisconsin’s recall elections. The emails indicate the two were also personal friends who met for dinner and kept in professional touch. “Are you available for the 25th?” Ms. Lerner wrote in January 2012. “If so, perhaps we could work two nights in a row.”

Continue reading Possible PERSONAL link between Wisconsin GAB / IRS witch hunts targeting conservatives discovered.

Russ Feingold used his outside candidate Super-PAC to …pay his once-and-future campaign staff?

You know, it’s sad when you see somebody whose basic motivation in life is so self-evidently Where am I gonna get my next fix from, man? Sad, and a little embarrassing. You want ’em to get help, but it’s not your place to tell ’em to shape up:

Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold — long a champion of campaign finance reform — founded a political action committee that has given a mere 5% of its income to federal candidates and political parties.

Instead, nearly half of the $7.1 million that Progressives United PAChas spent since 2011 has gone to raising more money for itself, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.org. The data also show the group has paid another sizable chunk of money on salaries or consulting fees for Feingold, his top aide and eight former staffers.

Continue reading Russ Feingold used his outside candidate Super-PAC to …pay his once-and-future campaign staff?

Russ Feingold, campaign finance ‘reform’ hypocrite.

Of course he is.  Being in Washington is a drug, for some people: “Democrats expect that, unlike in 2010, [Russ Feingold will] green-light independent expenditures from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to aid his effort. (Super PACs, which were conceived in the middle of Feingold’s last election but not yet popular among Democrats, might also help.)” As the NRSC is more than happy to note, this is potentially a remarkable change for the former Senator, who rather famously told the DSCC to ‘get the hell out‘ of his 1998 Senate race. Continue reading Russ Feingold, campaign finance ‘reform’ hypocrite.

We *will* have Russ Feingold to kick around again!

This should be entertaining.

Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D) on Thursday announced he will challenge Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in 2016, setting up a rematch in the critical swing state of Wisconsin.

In a Web video announcing his candidacy Thursday morning, Feingold portrayed himself as an independent voice that will reach across the aisle to get things done.

Continue reading We *will* have Russ Feingold to kick around again!

The Wisconsin State Journal manages to bury the lede in the …lede. Somehow.

:pause:

That takes some doing.

There are times when you should really reread the first sentence of whatever you wrote: “Wisconsin’s three AFSCME councils are merging four years after the state rolled back public-sector union rights, prompting two out of three dues-paying members to drop out.”  See that bolded part? That’s your story. Not the fact that AFSCME is highly upset about this turn of events.  I think that none of us are surprised to hear that, yes? Continue reading The Wisconsin State Journal manages to bury the lede in the …lede. Somehow.

Barricade your office, Shirley Abrahamson! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

FIGHT THE POWER! FIGHT THE POWER!

Wisconsin Supreme Court justices moved quickly Wednesday to elect a new chief following certification of a constitutional amendment that ended seniority as the sole determinant, even as a federal lawsuit was pending seeking to delay replacing longtime Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

Abrahamson objected to the email vote making Justice Patience Roggensack the chief justice, and Abrahamson continues to believe she still holds the position, her attorney Robert Peck said in a letter filed with U.S. District Court late Wednesday.

OCCUPY CORNER OFFICE! THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE! THIS IS WHAT DEMOC… oh. Yeah. Right.

Via @EsotericCD.

Wisconsin DA John Chisholm’s mouth writes checks that his ego can’t cash.

Now, I’m no lawyer…

In a swing through the crucial presidential state of Iowa this weekend, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took the rare step of lashing out at prosecutors who had probed his campaign by questioning whether their tactics were constitutional.

In an equally unusual turn, prosecutors fired back by calling Walker’s comments inaccurate, offensive and defamatory — with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm suggesting Walker could be criminally charged for lying.

Continue reading Wisconsin DA John Chisholm’s mouth writes checks that his ego can’t cash.

Tweet of the Day, They Celebrate Earth Day In Style In Wisconsin edition.

Full points on this one.

Contra Mother Jones, though: I don’t think that Scott Walker deliberately set out to lay off those folks on Earth Day itself. Instead, I simply think that Scott Walker doesn’t give a flying leap about Earth Day one way, or the other. Which is, frankly, more entertaining.

Just in case you haven’t read the National Review ‘Home Invasion’ article yet…

Go read it. It will make you angry*, but go read it.  It’s about the vicious, underhanded, and frankly undemocratic police-raid crap that Wisconsin Democrats got up to to harass conservatives; and thank God that said Democrats didn’t get anyone killed with their quasi-official Swatting tactics. As I said, it’s very angry-making: but you still need to read it, because you need to know how the Other Side plays this game.

God help us.

Moe Lane

*Although I am reminded of the folk wisdom of my people: Don’t get mad. Get even.

In classic Wisconsin Democratic fashion, Shirley Abrahamson petulantly fights being demoted.

I am finding it really difficult not to laugh at this.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to try and hold on to her leadership spot after voters approved a constitutional amendment that was likely to result in her demotion.

For the past 126 years the chief justice position has gone to the most senior member of the Supreme Court. Since 1996, that has been Abrahamson. But the amendment approved by voters on Tuesday would instead allow the seven justices to decide who should be chief.

Continue reading In classic Wisconsin Democratic fashion, Shirley Abrahamson petulantly fights being demoted.